- But few are saying much about social housing — the kind that’s needed for low-income households in greatest need of affordable rental housing.
- Social housing is non-market housing, either publicly owned or non-profit, and substantially subsidized to ensure low-income renter households pay no more than 30 per cent of their gross income on rent.
Failed private sector experiment
- We have synthesized research that tells the story of a 30-plus year experiment, aligned with the rise of neoliberalism, to rely on the private sector to respond to all housing needs.
- Read more:
What exactly is neoliberalism?
Create a minimum of 50,000 new rent-geared-to-income social housing units each year for 10 years, starting now. These units should be targeted for the lowest income renter households and those experiencing homelessness, and should have rents permanently set at no more than 30 per cent of household income.
Invest now in the acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance of new and existing public, non-profit and co-operative-owned housing that meets the unique and varied requirements of low-income renters and people experiencing homelessness.
Read more:
Housing co-ops could solve Canada's housing affordability crisis
Just scratching the surface
- We estimate that because 33.5 per cent of households are renters, 194,300 of this supply should be rental.
- This amount is relatively consistent with calls to double the number of social housing units to more closely align with the OECD average.
- New and existing social housing supply also requires investments in ongoing subsidies to support the costs of operating the housing while charging rent-geared-to-income rents.
Calls for change ignored
- Private-sector solutions were the focus of cost-shared federal/provincial/territorial initiatives beginning in 2001 through the Affordable Housing Framework Agreement.
- The shortage of truly affordable rental housing across Canada has only worsened because governments have not been willing to invest in social housing.
- But as demonstrated by Finland, a country that has remained committed to social housing investment, it pays off in the long term.
Lessons from Finland
- There are many strategies needed simultaneously to address housing affordability.
- But calls are all too often ignored by governments turning to the private sector for low-cost quick fixes that continue to fail those in greatest need.
Shauna MacKinnon receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
